Gen 3 Towing Thread

That there is an accident waiting to happen. That Yamaha and trailer is 5400 pounds dry. That's really pushing the envelope. See http://www.yamahaboats.com/24-foot-boats/242x

 

I think that might be an overreaction. 5400lbs is still 1400lbs below the max trailer weight. Even with a full tank of gas and a small pile of gear they're still under 6k.

 

I'd feel more comfortable with a Tundra or something.

 

Just when i think I have things figured out, you go and report something like this. I keep swaying back and forth between a Gen 2 and a Gen 3. Great write up.

 

Tow my boat twice to three times a week.

 

How long is that trailer? It looks long

 

Not sure on the length of trailer, boat is a 18 footer though.

 

I just finished towing around 220 miles today. Averaged 10.6 mpg at 60-70 mph. According to my scan gauge the transmission temp never got over 195 and that's with an outside air temp of 90 degrees.

I did add a pair of sumo springs and if you are doing much towing or hauling I'd highly recommend them. It's been well worth the $215 and 20 minutes of work.

 

How heavy was the load?

 

Just finished a 425 mile trip each way over the weekend through the mountains of NC, Virginia, West Virginia, and Western PA and I was disappointed that I didn't see another 3rd generation, or any other generation Tacoma, pulling a travel trailer. Oh well...... I can see now after the constant shifting between 5th and 6th gears ( I have a V6 with automatic transmission) forget using cruise control if you pulling any trailer or not. I can also see that if you have an automatic you will be slapping it over into manual mode and shifting between 4th and maybe 5th gears. As I rolled up and down the mountains I was happy when the transmission downshift to 4th or 5th gears I had plenty of juice to pull the grade at speed and above. I tend not to dally when I roll down the interstate, another words I'm doing 5, 10, maybe sometimes more over the speed limit, and I was able to get a pleasant 22 mpg. Which I know will drop nearly in half when and if I decided to use the truck to pull a travel trailer. Just my thought but I can now see where a correct set up using a weight distribution/anti sway hitch, and something like Sumo Springs IMHO are so important with the Tacoma and will pay off your going to pull a trailer. What I really didn't like was not being able to use cruise control, the constant shifting, and a Entune Bluetooth and Navigation system that sucks beyond belief! Twice the Bluetooth locked up when I tried to make a call using voice commands and only worked again with my iPhone when I turned the truck off and then back on which is not good. The Navigation system, well that too is trash, and I ended up resorting to my old portable Garmin Navigator and using the Toyota navigation as back up. All this aggravated me enough to consider rolling down to my local Ford dealer for another look sadly. Also on a side note I guess you may have heard about the flooding and loss of life in West Virginia which we ended up going through and believe me it is BAD and these poor people need our prayers and what any other help you can offer. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

What were you towing

 

I've checked in with many threads in here about:
1) Towing with my '16 TRD OR Access cab Auto transmission
2) Sumosprings spring.
3) ScangaugeII with temperature monitoring.
4) etc.

Search it up. I've got all favorable opinions. Towing 2500lbs, 55-60 mph, averaging14-16 mpg. Proactive transmission management while towing.
Truck scheduled for 1st 5000k service this Thursday.
Happy with the truck. Other things in life more important that need attention.

 

Nice set-up!

What size trailer is that and are the stock side mirrors usable?

I'm looking for a similar set up for my track bikes... double axle all aluminum V-nose

 

I don't think people don't realize that the industry is moving towards more gears in their transmissions. Naturally you are going to shifting more to keep you in the sweet spot when you have more gears. Wait until the Ford F-150 10 speed is out and see how much that transmission will shift. The shifts on the Tacoma are buttery-smooth and all you ever really notice is the tach jump.

 

It's a 7x14 aluminum haulmark, about 1900 lbs empty. The stock side mirrors are usable but I like having the extended ones for the additional visibility, especially for backing up.

I've added the sumo springs and a tekonsha P3 brake controller. It's been a great set up so far.

 

I too have read somewhere in our forum that the ScanguageII with transmission temperature monitoring maybe a wise investment but I've also read that it has some bugs needing to work out on temperature monitoring for our new 3rd generation Tacoma's. Do you know if ScanguageII now has a fix or not to enable monitoring transmission temperatures because if so as I said it maybe a worthy investment if your going to be hauling any trailer with some weight. I can see where towing at around 2500 lbs. shouldn't be much of a problem but as you climb in weight the more issues you will need to deal with an resolve. Right now I'm looking at light weight small travel trailers around the 3000 lbs. range and hope that by keeping the weight down makes hauling a travel trailer much more doable. Generally I too am happy with the truck but I may differ from others here is when I spend my hard earned cash on a product I expect it to work or if it does have a problem as the Toyota does with their Bluetooth and Navigation system to fix it and not ignore the obvious problems they have which is exactly what they are doing.

 

Scangauge is working on the 2016 tacomas. The codes were released a little over a week ago, all the info is in the scangauge thread. I've been using it on mine and can confirm it works with version 4.22.

 

I have a older version of Scangauge and it doesn't work. But I can send it in for a upgrade.

 

towed 2500 lb boat and trailer, two adults, two kids a dog and a bed full of camping gear over the weekend. Trip was about 225 miles through a mountain pass. I hand calc'd 14.5 mpg...pretty awesome if you ask me. Drove in 4th and 5th, always with ECT button engaged.

 

Re: scanguage upgrade.
Yes, send it in. Mine was version 3.17 (6 years old).
$25 upgrade, (to version 4.11) runs the codes for 2016 transmission temps good.
Linear Logic, Colorado.
Worthy tool especially for those towing, like me.